Two Duke Faculty Members Named Distinguished Members of Association for Computing Machinery

Duke faculty members Shaundra Daily and Nicki Washington have been named distinguished members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society.

Daily, the Cue Family Professor of the Practice of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Computer Science, and Washington, the Cue Family Professor of the Practice of Computer Science and Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, are longtime collaborators who have launched multiple initiatives to broaden participation in computing.

Daily and Washington are among 61 professionals to receive this distinction, which is awarded to scientists who have achieved significant accomplishments or have made a significant impact on the computing field. Daily was recognized for contributions to computing education, and Washington was recognized for contributions to broadening participation in computing.

Previously, ACM honored Daily and Washington for their efforts to make the national computing education system more equitable and to combat the unjust impacts of computing on society with the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award.

Daily’s research focuses on analyzing, designing and building sociotechnical systems—the complex interactions between people, technology and social structures—to support meaningful participation and success in STEM fields. She is the education and workforce director for the Athena AI Institute, where she works to cultivate the next generation of technical leaders who will ensure the ethical and fair use of artificial intelligence, as well as the backbone director for the Alliance for Interdisciplinary Innovation in Computing Education (AiiCE). In 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine appointed Daily as a committee member on the Developing Competencies for the Future of Data and Computing: The Role of K-12 committee.

“I’m deeply honored to receive this recognition from ACM,” Daily said. “This distinction reflects not just my own work, but the collective efforts of the exceptional colleagues and students I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with throughout my career. Their creativity, dedication and insights have been essential to whatever contributions I’ve been able to make to computing education research.”

Washington is credited with developing a first-of-its-kind Race, Gender, Class, & Computing course—aimed at computer science majors—which grounds the discipline of computing in history, sociology and critical race and gender studies. A primary goal of the course is to ensure that undergraduate students develop a deep understanding of how identity shapes technology development and use. She is also the director and principal investigator for AiiCE, as well as the director of the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows Program.

“I sincerely appreciate that the ACM recognized the significance of my contributions to computing,” Washington said. “Now more than ever, it matters that the leading international computing society acknowledged there is a place and space for my scholarship, which I hope empowers others to do the work that matters most to them.”

The ACM Distinguished Member program recognizes up to 10 percent of the worldwide ACM membership based on professional experience and significant achievements in computing beyond the norm. To be nominated, a candidate must have at least 15 years of professional experience in the field and five years of professional ACM membership in the last 10 years. As a distinguished member, researchers are also expected to serve as a mentor and role model to younger professionals, not just within ACM but across the field of computer science.